TWO men have appeared in court accused of carrying out armed robberies at two post offices and a shop.

Ian Parkhouse and Anthony Delaney pleaded guilty to robbing a sub-postmaster of £4,000 during a raid at Baddesley Ensor post office on December 20 last year.

Parkhouse, aged 31, of Vicarage Road, Nuneaton, and Delaney, aged 37, of The Lindfield, Stoke Aldermoor, Coventry, also pleaded guilty to having an imitation firearm at the time of committing the offence.

At the crown court in Leamington, the two men further admitted possessing an offensive weapon, an axe, in the post office.

They both denied attempting to rob a woman of her Peugeot to make their getaway, but admitted kidnapping a driver and robbing him of his Skoda car, which crashed in Atherstone, shortly afterwards.

In addition, Parkhouse pleaded guilty to carrying out a robbery at the Spar Store in Browns Lane, Dordon, two days earlier on December 18.

On that occasion he robbed a woman and a 16-year-old girl who was also working in the shop, and the girl’s father, who had arrived to collect her, of their mobile phones, a wallet and its contents and a total of £172 in cash.

He also pleaded guilty to the attempted robbery of the Hampton-in-Arden postmaster of a quantity of cash on December 19.

Parkhouse, who appeared in court with his neck in a brace, also admitted further charges of possessing the imitation firearm, a GAMO-B23 ball bearing-firing gun, with intent to commit both of those robberies and possessing the axe in the two shops.

But Delaney pleaded not guilty to taking part in the robbery at the Spar Store or the attempted robbery at Hampton-in-Arden post office – and also denied the firearm and offensive weapon charges associated with those offences.

At the request of prosecutor Neil Bannister, the case against Delaney was adjourned for him to stand trial on his alleged part in those two incidents.

Parkhouse’s case was adjourned until after the trial and for a pre-sentence report to be prepared – and Judge Marten Coates told him: “In your case the question of dangerousness must be considered.”